Japanese Examined Patent Application Nos. 19999/1971, 111066/1974 and 741/1984 disclose building escape apparatuses wherein a braking device incorporates a gear pump in a pulley for escape at a safe descending speed; a wire rope or chain, which is wound around the pulley body and used to suspend the apparatus, mounts to a suitable place on a building, and a gondola removably connects to the free end of the wire rope or the like.
Japanese Examined Patent Application Nos. 5479/78, 26856/1995, etc., disclose braking devices employing pistons provided in cylinders.
However, it is difficult to continually lower and evacuate many people in a short period of time using the inventions disclosed above. Japanese Examined Patent Application No. 26656/1995, for example, discloses a device wherein an endless loop ladder is used. In consideration of adult height and other chracteristics, however, the number of individuals that can be lowered is limited. In the event of an emergency, such as a disaster, people rush to an escape apparatus. Therefore, it is necessary to suspend and lower as many people as possible per unit length of rope or chain. The inventions described above do not satisfy this need.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an elevated location descent apparatus that satisfies the need described above, and, moreover, has a simple structure, operates space-efficiently, necessitates no power source, and, due to the use of fluid resistance, is subject to little friction-caused wear in its parts.